1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a grill device, more particularly to a grill device having a restricting unit to prevent upward movement of an upper grill unit relative to a lower grill unit during the grilling operation.
2. Description of the Related Art
Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional grill device 1 is shown to include a lower grill unit 11 with a rear end 113, an upper grill unit 12 with a rear end 123, and a connecting unit which interconnects the rear ends 123,113 of the upper and lower grill units 12,11 in such a manner that the upper grill unit 12 can be turned rearward relative to the lower grill unit 11 from a closed position to an open position, in which the upper grill unit 12 is generally perpendicular to the lower grill.. unit 11. The upper and lower grill units 12, 11 respectively have upper and lower cooking members 121, 111.
As illustrated, the connecting unit includes a pivot seat 131 which is fixed on and which extends upwardly from the rear end 113 of the lower grill unit 11 and which has opposite left and right sides 130 that are respectively formed with vertical slots 132, and left and right cylindrical pivots 133 which are fixed on the rear end 123 of the upper grill unit 12 and which extend into the slots 132 in the lower grill unit 11. By virtue of the connecting unit, the upper grill unit 12 is movable vertically relative to the lower grill unit 11 so as to accommodate the thickness of food, e.g., a piece of meat, confined between the upper and lower grill units 12, 11.
One disadvantage encountered during use of the aforesaid conventional grill device 1 is that, though the upper cooking member 121 can be adjusted to prevent vertical movement relative to the lower cooking member 111, a sandwich placed on the lower cooking member 111 can not be cut into two halves due to lack of cutting blades in the cooking members 111, 121, thereby resulting in purchase of another set of cooking members which cooperatively can cut a piece of bread being grilled therebetween.
The object of this invention is to provide a grill device with a restricting unit that can eliminate the occurrence of the aforesaid disadvantage which result during use of the conventional grill device.
Accordingly, a grill device of the present invention includes a lower grill unit, an upper grill unit, a connecting unit, and a restricting unit.. The lower grill unit has a rear portion and an upper surface that is indented to form a recess, and includes a lower cooking member detachably mounted in the recess. The rear portion of the lower grill unit is formed with a horizontally extending rear notch, and has an abutment wall that separates the rear notch from the recess, that confines a rear side of the recess, and that is formed with a horizontal slot in spatial communication with the recess and the rear notch. The upper grill unit has a rear portion that is pivoted to the lower grill unit so as to rotate relative to the lower grill unit between open and closed positions. The connecting unit includes a hollow pivot seat secured to the rear portion, disposed in the rear notch in the lower grill unit, and confining a receiving space. The pivot seat has left and right open ends in spatial communication with the receiving space. Left and right pivots are fixed to the rear portion of the upper grill unit, and respectively extend into the receiving space via the left and right open ends of the pivot seat so as to permit rotation of the upper grill unit relative to the lower grill unit and vertical movement of the upper grill unit together with the left and right pivots along vertical lengths of the left and right open ends of the pivot seat when the upper grill unit is positioned at the closed position. The restricting unit includes a pressing element and a spring-biased restricting element. The pressing element projects from the lower cooking member, and is extendible into the receiving space in the pivot seat via the horizontal slot when the lower cooking member is mounted in the recess. The restricting element is disposed above the left and right pivots, and is pressable by the pressing element when the lower cooking member is disposed in the recess so as to move in a transverse direction relative to the length of the pivot seat to a limiting position, in which, the restricting element is vertically aligned with the left and right pivots, thereby restricting vertical movement of the upper grill unit and the left and right pivots when the upper grill unit is positioned at the closed position.